Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Real-life spree killer Charles Starkweather caused fear and dread in the late 1950's as he and his 14 year old girlfriend killed 11 people with not a hint of remorse. Starkweather has inspired many films about his life, the Bruce Springsteen song titled Nebraska, and even gets a mention in Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire. Yes, a lot of attention has been given to this killer. The movie Starkweather, directed by Byron Werner, appears to present just the facts of the case. No fancy special effects, no big name stars, and no glorified violence or gore. Just the facts. But the film strays far away from the real facts. Research reveals that the "facts" in the film aren't quite "factual".

The result is a bland, dull film that neither entertains, nor educates. I find this latter issue to be a huge disappointment. If I'm going to dedicate 90 minutes of my life to a movie about a real-life killer, at least let me try to gain an understanding about his motives. Help me to understand how someone can be driven to such horrific acts.

However, this film does not claim to be a documentary, so I won't hold its rewriting of history against it. Too much.

Basic Plot

The movie starts out showing us a sweet, innocent 8 year old Charles who one day has a vision of a "demon". The demon (a man shown always in full black attire; we never see his face) makes fun of Charles, and goads him into killing a toad. Thus starts a pattern that follows Charles his whole life. This demon shows up at various times, and tells Charles that he needs to "prove himself a man", and "show them he's not scared". Charles feels the need to please this demon, and thus begins his killing spree at age 16. When he tells his 13 year old girlfriend, Caril-Ann that he killed a man "for her" she is fascinated that a boy would love her "that much", and joins him for the rest of the spree, including standing by as he kills her entire family. The rest of the film follows the couple as they attempt to get to California, to start a new life and family. With barely a blink, they kill anyone who gets in their way, until they're finally captured, 11 victims later.

Problems With The Film

The film portrays Charles and Caril-Ann as 16 and 13 years old, respectively. (In real life Charles was 19 when the killing started... I suppose a 16 year old killer is far more interesting). OK - so the ages weren't exactly correct. But that's not the real problem. The real problem is that Charles and Caril-Ann (played by Brent Taylor and Shannon Lucio) look like, and in fact ARE, full grown adults. Both actors were 24 at the time the film was made. Part of the horror of Starkweather's rampage was his very young age. Whether he's 16 or 19, the world was still faced with a very young killer. The horror would have played much better, had younger actors been chosen for the roles.

We're not shown any illness, mental or physical, that could explain how a normal child and teenager could not only have such vivid visions, but actually be swayed by them to the act of murder. There was no poverty, no childhood abuse, nothing that would give a clue to Charles' malleability. According to my research, the whole demonic visions thing was made up, anyway. So if the film was going to make this part up, why not go one step further, and give us a reason for the visions? Instead, we're left wondering how a kid's imagination can run so rampant.

When it comes to Caril-Ann, we're never given a single clue as to her reasons for going along with him. When first told about Charles' first murder, she's thrilled that he'd do something "so sweet" for her. She doesn’t even flinch when Charles murders her parents and her baby sister. I want to know WHY she acts this way, yet we're never shown a single reason for her behavior.

No one tries to help Charles. When Charles has these visions, he speaks out loud to the demon. To anyone near him, it would appear that Charles is having conversations with himself. His father sees this. Caril-Ann sees this. Yet, no one bothers to try to help him, or to push him to seek help for himself. No one tries to force Charles to recognize that the demon isn't really there; that he's only inside Charles' head. I don't find this realistic at all.

Throughout the couple's journey, Caril-Ann gains some weight. In fact, right before Charles kills her parents, they're furious at him and refusing to allow him to see Caril-Ann, because they think he impregnated her. But that's the last we hear about the pregnancy. Was she pregnant, or not? We never find out. (My research tells me that in real life, she was not pregnant). Still, if the film is going to make a case for the anger of the parents towards Charles, why not follow through and tell us if she's actually pregnant or not.

No time is spent on the reactions of people watching the spree take place. We're not shown anything about the families of the victims, grieving for their losses. We're not shown the public fear. No newspaper headlines, no mention of any media attention. In fact this was a huge story in Nebraska at the time, but you'd never know it, from watching the film. Other than one scene showing Charles' father, we never see anyone in his family. In fact, he had numerous siblings, and a normal, happy childhood home and family life. But from the film, you'd think Charles was completely on his own for his entire life. I think the film would have been much more potent, if we'd gotten to see the reactions of the people whose lives were affected by these two killers.

What I Liked About The Film

The story moved quickly, and I was interested to know how these two eventually get caught and what becomes of them. Like most films about real people, at the end, we get to read a short summary of their trials and sentences. This serves to remind us, in case we forgot, that these were real people. Their victims were real people, and their deaths tragic.

I also liked that the violence was never glorified. Blood and gore were kept to a minimum. It's rated R for adult content, and certainly not for kids, but at least you won't see any overly gory scenes.

Overall, this film disappoints on many levels. It's not a factual account of the story, neither is it entertaining. The plot holes are wide enough to climb through. If you want a factual depiction of Starkweather's reign of terror, do your own research, this movie won't help. If you want an entertaining movie about a spree killer, this movie isn't it.

Basically, skip this one.


ps: I haven't been making a typo over & over again... it really was spelled Caril-Ann.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age